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Show $10,000 maximum Holly to be Sponsored by Blue Cross, Blue Shield By TOM HARALDSEN BOUNTIFUL They welcomed wel-comed Holly Cook home Monday, a spirited but fatigued Holly who had just returned from the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships Cham-pionships in Tacoma, Wash. And during a press conference at the Bountiful Recreation Center Ice Arena, they had a present for her. Blue Cross-BHie Sheild of Utah announced that the company will provide up to $10,000 to help her train for the 1988 Nationals in Denver, from where she could earn a spot in the 1988 Winter Olympics team. Making the announcement were Kevin Bischoff, from Blue Cross-Blue Cross-Blue Shield public relations, and Olympian Henry Marsh, representing repre-senting Athletes Unlimited, Inc., which represents Holly. Under the sponsorship, Blue Cross-Blue Shield will match donations dona-tions under the "Adopt an Olympian" Olym-pian" promotion that many states are running. "We have identified Holly as the most likely Utahn to make the Winter Win-ter Olympic team, and so we initiated initi-ated a program to assist her," he said, explaining that for each dollar donated to her training, his firm will match that amount up to a ' "if ' fl Cross r :r 1 . of Utah $ i 1 tm t i' ii nr '" '""JfriH r r - ..vw.. --. 1 .-wv Am IimmaAI CUPPERTOM HARALDSEN Bountiful's Holly Cook was welcomed back from the National Figure Skating Championships Champion-ships by local dignitaries Monday afternoon. Shown from left are Kevin Bischoff from Blue Cross -Blue Shield, Olympian Henry Marsh from Athletes Unlimited; Holly, and Bountiful Mayor Dean Stahle. maximum of $10,000. Marsh praised the company's effort, explaining that ice skating is one of the most expensive sports to train for. He thanked Bountiful City and Mayor Dean Stahle, who was at the press conference, for their generosity in donating ice time for Holly's training. "It can cost as much as $35,000 a year for a figure skater to train," Marsh stated. "We're thrilled to death that Blue Cross-Blue Shield has decided to adopt Holly." 1 Mayor Stahle also spoke for a l moment, praising Holly for her i accomplishments and her representation repre-sentation of Bountiful. i Holly took her turn at the microphone, mic-rophone, and the shy 16-year-old i sophomore at Viewmont High graciously gra-ciously thanked everyone involved i for their efforts. The program will i continue up until the time Holly leaves for the 1988 Nationals in Denver. De-nver. Donations are handled through Athletes Unlimited, a nonprofit non-profit Utah organization promoting promot-ing amateur athletes in the state. The group assures that Holly will not loser her amateur status. Bischoff said donations can be made through any branch of First Interstate Bank, and should be made out to the Utah Figure Skating Skat-ing Club, National Competitor's Fund. Continued on page two Holly gets sponsor Continued from page one Holly and her coach Kris Sher-ard Sher-ard were both basically pleased with the skater's performance in Tacoma, where she finished eighth overall in senior ladies. Sherard revealed re-vealed that Holly, who has been injury-free in her career, suffered from tendenitis of the ankle during Nationals. "We felt Holly would have done better had she been in better shape," her coach offered. "She did very well, but was tired going into the long program, which kept her from finishing in the top five or six." Sherard also stated Holly needs to add another triple-jump to her long program. Her efforts in Tacoma Taco-ma only helped solidify her chances of going even higher, and Holly earned the "Giving It 100 Percent" Award from the NutraS-weet NutraS-weet Company for the lady skater exemplifying "the grit, spirit and determination that go into a 100 percent effort to pursue one's per sonal best." A handsome trophy came along with that award to Holly, Hol-ly, who beat out the other 19 senior lady competitors for the honor. Holly then performed a four-minute four-minute routine for the media. She and her coach plan to continue training as usual this week. This latest triumph for Holly Cook climaxed a fabulous 12 months since she finished 10th in her first National senior's competition competi-tion in New York last February. In July, she finished fifth at the National Sports Festival in Houston. Hous-ton. A month later, Holly took home first place titles in the Coups de Alps competitions, first in St. Gervais, France and then in Ober-stdorf, Ober-stdorf, West Germany. Last November, Holly finished fourth in the NHK Trophy competition com-petition in Tokyo, a competition featuring European champion Katarina Witt. She followed that performance with a fourth place finish in Junior Worlds in Canada, and that led to the eighth place finish fin-ish in Tacoma. |